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The Relation of the Fertilizer 

Industry to the Agricultural 

and Industrial Development 

of the Country 



By W: HreOWKER 

BOSTON, MASS. 



Address delivered at the Twenty-second Annual Convention of 
The National Fertilizer Association, Hot Springs, Va., July 13, 1915 



FIRST EDITION 



^ 






The Relation of the Fertilizer Industry to the 

Agricultural and Industrial Development 

of the Country 



BY W. H. BOWKER 



Away back, more years than I care to recall, when a boy on 
the farm, I helped my father drop "phosphate" in the hill to 
give corn a start. I was told that phosphate made corn grow 
because it possessed certain chemical or mystic properties; but 
from a study of the label and of the manufacturer's pamphlet, 
little was revealed to me. It was called "phosphate" for short, 
but it was branded "Nitrogenous Superphosphate of Lime." 
That name was a poser. As expected, it had its psychological 
effect on the imagination. I stood in gaping wonder at it. The 
phosphate gave the corn a start all right. That phenomenon 
and the name gave me a start. No prestidigitator ever aroused 
my curiosity more. I wondered what nitrogenous superphos- 
phate could possibly be and just why it gave corn a start. I am 
still wondering, for as yet science has not revealed the whole secret. 

About this time a professor of chemistry in Amherst College 
came to the adjoining town and delivered a brilliant lecture on 
the chemistry of common salt. That opened my eyes and led 
me to think I wanted to know something about chemistry; so 
when this same brilliant professor, Col. William S. Clark, became 
president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College (1867), I 
sent for a catalog, wherein I saw that chemistry was given an 
important place in the curriculum. I then decided, against the 
wishes of my family, to go to the agricultural college. 

There I came under the instruction of an able German chemist. 
Dr. Charles Anthony Goessmann; there not only was I taught 
the first principles of chemistry, but my attention was particu- 
larly directed to chemistry as applied to agriculture, and the 
composition of plant foods. I learned that fertility or plant food 
was the cornerstone of agriculture, and that without it agricul- 
ture, as well as all other industries and activities, would perish. 

3 



I was told that the Germans used enormous quantities of com- 
mercial plant foods to build up and sustain their agriculture, and 
that the fertilizer industry in Europe, while then in its infancy, 
was fostered and encouraged by the Government and by econo- 
mists. "Some day," remarked the German professor, "the in- 
dustry will be fostered and encouraged in this country as it is 
abroad." < 

His interesting and prophetic lectures fired me with zeal to 
study chemistry with the view of some time entering the fertilizer 
business. Two years after graduation, in 1873, at twenty- three 
years of age, in company with a classmate I engaged in the manu- 
facture of fertilizers. 

At that time there was much opposition to the use of "artificial 
manures," the opponents, like those of today, urging that they 
were stimulants — that they would ruin the land and the farmer 
who used them. Nevertheless farmers persisted in their use, for 
they had discovered that they gave crops a start, that they 
hastened maturity and improved quality Remember, in those 
days fertilizers were principally dissolved bone, carrying about 
two per cent, of nitrogen, ten per cent, of soluble phosphoric acid 
and no potash. The wise teachers of chemistry — Johnson, 
Goessmann, Stockbridge and others — knew that the reason why 
they hastened maturity and improved quality was that they 
possessed the needed plant food elements in easily assimilable 
forms. Being true scientists and wise counselors, they urged 
their use. They also recognized the need of proper inspection, 
and moved for stringent inspection laws which would weed out 
the fakes and fakers and protect both buyer and seller. These 
laws have been a great help to the industry. We should heartily 
support them. 



The Growth of the Industry — The Deficiencies 

We have no accurate data of the amount of fertilizers sold in this 
country prior to the enactment of inspection laws in 1874 and 
later; but it is believed that not over half a million tons were 
sold in the entire country — most of it in the South for cotton. 
Today fully seven and one-half million tons are sold in the 
country, chiefly in the Atlantic seaboard States — a marvelous 
growth in forty years. 

Why this growth? We know, if the public does not generally 
know, that fertilizers are food, and food rightly used never hurt 
anything. Men and animals live on vegetation, and vegetation 
lives on the soil, the air and the sunshine. It is obvious, then, 
if man would live and thrive he must utilize in the greatest pos- 
silale degree the natural agencies placed at his disposal. To that 
end he must supply deficiencies in the soil, and remedy defects in 
his methods of cultivation. 

4 



The three chief elements of plant nutrition are nitrogen, 
phosphorus and potash. A chemical analysis however, shows 
that there is usually an abundance of these in most soils, often- 
times enough for centuries of cropping; yet such soils may be 
practically barren, because these elements, although they may 
be present in abundance, are not soluble in water, for it is known 
that all plants require their mineral food to be in solution or 
capable of soon becoming soluble. Therefore the deficiencies 
which man must supply are not, as a rule, deficiencies in total or 
potential fertility, but deficiencies in water soluble or available 
fertility. 

Malthus and His Theory 

Malthus, an English economist, declared In 1800 that "popu- 
lation, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio; sub- 
sistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio." Later he modi- 
fied this statement when discussing the voluntary and positive 
checks to increase in population. Of course he was bitterly de- 
nounced. His theory was called a "poisonous novelty," but 
economists appear now to be coming to his defense. Dr. Warren 
S. Thompson, in his recent thesis on "Malthusianism," says: 

"Malthus was essentially correct in his statement 
of the law of population. When we examine individ- 
ual countries we find that population increases when 
food increases (with the exception of France). For 
the great majority of people of the Western world 
the pressure upon means of subsistence is the determin- 
ing factor in the size of the family." 

When Malthus proclaimed his theory the world did not know 
of the enormous natural sources of fertility. It did not know 
of the millions of tons of nitrogen in coal, of the vast reservoir 
of nitrogen in the atmosphere. It did not know of the ex- 
tensive deposits of potash and phosphate; it had little know- 
ledge of soil and plant chemistry; it had never heard of soil 
bacteria and the great part which they are destined to perform 
in feeding the world. The fertilizer industry, whose business 
it is to marshal and correlate all these sources and forces, had not 
sprung into existence. 

It must be borne in mind that during aeons of time some form 
of vegetable and animal life has persisted on this earth ; but man, 
the highest order, has come along and upset Nature's plans, or 
the balance, and now he has to restore it. The fertilizer in- 
dustry was evolved to help man restore the balance; hence it 
is searching the world over for all sorts and conditions of plant 
food. 

5 



Sources of Fertility — The Nitrogen in Coal 

The framework or bone structure of all living things is phos- 
phate of lime. We are finding an abundance of it in unexpected 
places. Another fundamental element is potash. Nature has 
furnished an almost inexhaustible supply in Germany, but the 
world will not be content with one source. 

Nitrogen, at present the most costly element of fertility, is in 
great abundance everywhere. It is estimated that there are 
35,000 tons of atmospheric nitrogen over every square acre of the 
earth; but before this great reservoir is tapped to any extent, 
the nitrogen in by-product materials will first be utilized. This 
is inevitable, for I cannot conceive that a process will be dis- 
covered which will prove cheap enough to take nitrogen from the 
air when it can be obtained as a by-product of essential industries. 

We have now reached the limit of many of these by-products 
derived from the soil, such as bone, meat tankages and seed meals, 
but we have not begun to touch the great source of nitrogen in 
our coals. When we come to consider this source the statistics 
are assuring, i 

According to Government reports the United States mined in 
1913 a grand total of 570,000,000 tons of coal. Taking the sta- 
tistics of the twelve leading coal-producing States as a guide, it is 
safe to say that this coal averaged about 26.6 pounds of nitrogen 
to the ton — 1^ per cent., or nearly as much as a 2-8-2 grade of 
fertilizer contains. This is equivalent in round figures to 7 ,500,000 
tons of nitrogen, or enough nitrogen to give 30 pounds to each 
improved acre of land in the United States. 

Take, for example, the State of Illinois. In 1913 that State 
mined almost 62,000,000 tons of coal. The coals of Illinois 
average about 2 1 pounds of nitrogen to the ton ; thus there were 
mined in Illinois about 650,000 tons of nitrogen, which is equiv- 
alent to 45 pounds to each acre of improved land in that State. 
This is twice as much nitrogen as all the cereal grains grown in 
Illinois require. Even the Dakota lignites contain 14 pounds of 
nitrogen to the ton, which should be utilized on Dakota wheat 
fields. 

It would be absurd to assume that all the nitrogen in coal is 
recoverable; probably only a fraction can be saved. England 
and Germany are recovering a very considerable amount from 
the soft coals which they consume; but it is obvious that we 
should recover as much as it is possible to recover, and that, when 
recovered, we should encourage its use. 

At present there are two feasible ways of recovering this nitro- 
gen. One is in the manufacture of coke and illuminating gas. 
The other is in the production of producer gas for power purposes 
by processes (notably the Mond process) which conserve the 

6 



nitrogen in the form of sulphate of ammonia, the tar and all 
the by-products of tar — and they are many and valuable. 
Approximately 200,000 tons of sulphate of ammonia were pro- 
duced in the United States in 1913, chiefly from coal, conserving 
40,000 tons of nitrogen, or enough to supply nearly one-half of 
the nitrogen required for the staple crops grown in New England. 
The value of the nitrogen in the coal alone, at 10 cents a pound, 
or half the present retail price, is equal to the value of the coal at 
the mines, or $2.50 a ton, leaving the gas, tar and its distillates to 
pay expenses and profit. 

Think what it would mean to a great agricultural and indus- 
trial State like Illinois, if, in addition to the gas for power pur- 
poses, some considerable part of the nitrogen in its coal could be 
conserved for corn production, also the pitch for improving its 
highways and byways. At present about 2,500 tons of nitrogen 
are conserved from coal in Illinois, most of it within fifty miles 
of Chicago; but little of it, however, is used on Illinois soils. 



Cheaper Nitrogen an Outcome of the War 

Sir William Crookes, the English chemist and economist, de- 
clares that the food supply of the world is dependent on the 
supply of nitrogen, and predicts that, as the nitrate beds of Chile 
will soon be exhausted, we must find other sources of nitrogen to 
sustain the world. 

One of the beneficent outcomes of the present war (and bad as 
it is, I am sure that good will come of it) may be cheaper nitrogen. 
One of the essential ingredients of destructive explosives is nitro- 
gen. Chile saltpeter has been the chief chemical source. While 
the ports of Germany appear to be closed, she does not seem to 
be disturbed about it. It is evident that the Teutons are getting 
nitrogen for their explosives and their agriculture from some 
other source than Chilean nitrate, probably from coal and from 
the air by a new process. After the war is over the world will 
have the benefit of their discoveries. It will be remembered that 
beet sugar was an outcome of the Napoleonic wars. 

One section which undoubtedly would benefit is the cereal belt 
of our own country, where instead of 14 bushels of wheat per acre 
we might see 28 bushels per acre; instead of 29 bushels of corn 
we might witness 58 bushels per acre, and it is largely a question 
of cheaper nitrogen. It is estimated that already the world out- 
side of Germany is obtaining fully 50,000 tons of nitrogen an- 
nually from the air for agricultural and industrial uses by new 
processes put into operation since 1906. 

It is obvious that the utilization of all by-product forms of 
nitrogen, including municipal wastes, should be encouraged by 
every one and especially by agricultural chemists and agrono- 

7 



mists. If, however, they discourage their use, as is being done 
in some quarters, then their utiHzation will be retarded. 

Some Western Opposition 

For example, the Illinois Farmers Institute, a State-supported 
institution, has officially gone on record as opposed to our Na- 
tional Fertilizer Association because it had the temerity to organ- 
ize and support a propaganda for the judicious use of commercial 
plant foods, including nitrogen. This Institute dogmatically 
warns 

"editors, farmers, bankers and others against accept- 
ing the teachings of, or assisting in any way, this asso- 
ciation or any other organization whose teachings are 
in conflict with the facts established by the Illinois State 
Experiment Station." 

Now our propaganda may be open to criticism — I dare say it 
is, for it is human and therefore fallible — but there is one 
thing it has not done, it has not claimed to be infallible. What- 
ever it has put out has had the warrant of experience and the 
backing of scientifically conducted experiments the world over. 
In my judgment no State-supported organization or educational 
institution can afford to go out of its way to deliberately misrep- 
resent any industry, especially an industry whose business it is 
to gather and render available all sorts and conditions of fertility, 
BO basic and needful everywhere, and as much so in Illinois as in 
any other State of the Union. 

The East versus the West 

Again: in Circular 181, page 6, of the Illinois Experiment 
Station (1915), Dr. Cyril G. Hopkins, Agronomist of the Illi- 
nois University, in good and regular standing, writes as follows: 

"A boy found a drunkard lying on the sidewalk, 
and he called through the saloon door to the bar- 
keeper that his sign had fallen down. Through lack 
of fundamental knowledge, the general farmer of the 
East has been led to depend upon mixed commercial 
fertilizers, and ten million acres once classed as im- 
proved farm land, but now agriculturally abandoned, 
represent the sign for Illinois farmers to look upon 
before adopting the fertilizer system now so exten- 
sively advertised in the Middle West. The com- 
mercial fertilizer interests, especially Eastern fertilizer 
manufacturers, after having sucked the life-blood out of 
Eastern agriculture, now seek new worlds to conquer, 
attracted by the agricultural earnings of the com 
belt." 



The above reminds one of "Ten Nights in a Bar Room," where 
the awful example of the drunkard is pictured to frighten inno- 
cent boys on the sidewalk who may be looking in. The awful 
example of the drunken, effete East is held up to the virile "dry" 
West. Well, if the West with its average of 29 bushels of com 
per acre can stand it, the East can stand it with its average of 44 
bushels per acre. If Eastern fertilizer manufacturers have 
"sucked the life-blood out of Eastern agriculture" by utilizing 
nitrogen from coal and nitrates from Chile and more recently 
from the air, then Eastern station directors, chemists and 
agronomists have been accessories to the crime, since for years 
they have encouraged it. And how about the Western agricult- 
ural pi^s which is printing the lurid advertisements of these 
blood-suckers, written in the life-blood of Eastern farmers? Is 
it not particeps criminisl 

It is part of our business to take bone and convert it into bone 
charcoal, which we sell for refining purposes. After the refiners 
are through with it, it finds its way into baking powder for making 
bread, or into fertilizers in the shape of dissolved bone black, or 
"superphosphate" for growing wheat; thus it gets into bread 
whichever way it goes. In doing this we save the grease for 
soap-making and the nitrogen for grain-growing, but according 
to Illinois agricultural bulletins, by some chemical necromancy 
we have deliberately converted the nitrogen and the phosphate 
of the bone into "soil stimulants" which is a crime, and the men 
who do it, in the opinion of Dr. Hopkins, are blood suckers. 

Dr. T. F. Hunt, formerly Director of the Pennsylvania Experi- 
ment Station, now Director of the California Station, in a recent 
issue of the "American Agriculturist," writes: 

"A soil can be kept fertile indefinitely by the use of 
chemical fertilizers. ... For over sixty years 
large yields of wheat have been raised annually on 
the same land at Rothamsted, England, by the appli- 
cation of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash. The 
soil contained plenty of lime. When properly used 
commercial fertilizers do not injure the soil." 

The commercial fertilizers to which Dr. Hunt refers have long 
been composed of packing house waste, the very bone and sinew 
of Middle West soils. We have been wont to think that it was 
poor economy on the part of the West to allow it to be shipped 
away. But it now appears that she has been very wise, for if she 
had kept her blood and bone tankage at home and used it on her 
soils it would have ruined them. The East took it and used it; 
hence, according to Dr. Hopkins, her abandoned farms. 

9 



New England "Abandoned Farms" 

But a word about these New England "abandoned farms." 
Would it not be fair to state that, notwithstanding the ten 
million acres (?) abandoned in New England (actually only 
879,499 acres abandoned since 1889), she is producing $46,000,000 
more in value of farm crops than she did when the 879,499 acres 
were included. According to the census, Massachusetts produces 
in crops in round figures $41 per acre as against Illinois' $17 per 
acre, or almost two and one-half times as much. She stands at 
the top of the list. Why} Because she has learned how to make 
one acre do the work of two. 

Would it not also be fair to state that most of the farms which 
have been abandoned in New England are the hilly, rocky farms 
or sandy plains, which should never have been cleared, and which 
would not have been cleared if our forefathers had known of the 
fertile prairies west of the Ohio? It might also be well to state 
that these so-called deserted farms have reverted to forests and 
are yielding annually in lumber and wood (which are perfectly 
good money crops) as much per acre as some of the Illinois farms. 

The mistake New England made was that she did not take 
more of the blood, bone and tankage of the West, and send less of 
her real life-blood in young manhood to develop the West. 

What Other Authorities Say 

The State of Connecticut was the first large user of fertilizer in 
this country, and with the exception of Maine she is still the 
largest user per acre on staple crops such as corn, potatoes, 
tobacco, etc. Dr. Jenkins, who has been connected with the 
Connecticut Experiment Station, either as chemist or director, 
for more than thirty years, recently endorsed the Maine complete 
formula for potatoes, the outgrowth of Director Jordan's and 
Director Woods' experiments and observations. At a recent 
convention in Hartford, Dr. Jenkins made the following state- 
ment: 

"Fertilizers for most soils and crops are necessary 
for the highest production and, when rightly used, for 
the highest profitable production." 

Director Thorne of the Ohio Experiment Station has recently 
summed up in Circular 144 an instructive series of experiments 
covering twenty years with fertilizers. They show that complete, 
available mixtures, containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potash, 
gave the largest yields of corn, oats and wheat in five-year rota- 
tions, including timothy and clover. They show a gain over 
check plats where nothing was applied of 57 per cent, in oats, 
60 per cent, in corn, 126 per cent, in wheat, with the soil practi- 
cally holding its own; in fact in the case of corn, where the best 

10 



balanced mixture was used, there was a gain of four bushels an 
acre in the last five-year period over the first five-year period. 
We might quote similar convincing experiments elsewhere, if 
time permitted. Let me, however, refer to one more interesting 
experiment in the Middle West. 



An Illinois Experiment and the Illinois System 

Bulletin 176 of the Illinois University on the "Use of Com- 
mercial Fertilizers in Growing Carnations," concludes: 

"... On the brown silt loam of the corn belt 
area of Illinois, nitrogenous fertilizers have produced 
a consistent increase in production. . . . There 
are indications that acid phosphate if used with nitro- 
genous fertilizers will cause a still further increase in 
production and an improvement in quality as well. 
The quality of flowers produced by culture with 
commercial fertilizers as measured by size of flowers, 
length of stem, keeping qualities, etc., is equal to that 
of those grown with manure. . . . Injury from 
over-feeding results from the excessive use of potash 
and nitrogen in the form of sulphate of potash and 
dried blood. The use of large quantities of acid 
phosphate, however, seems to improve the quality of 
the flowers and to increase their number." ' . 

All of which is extremely interesting, for the same principles 
apply in the growth of cereals. It is also interesting to note that 
acid phosphate was used in these experiments, and not raw 
phosphate. 

How this ever got by the censor of the Illinois Station is be- 
yond me. Before the Station knows it, somebody will be tempt- 
ing pansies with, commercial fertilizers, and then some one will 
"try-a-bag" on potatoes, and it is but a short step from pinks, 
pansies and potatoes to corn and wheat. It will not, however, 
be the first time in the history of commercial manures that florists 
and horticulturists have pointed the way for the staple crop 
farmer; but it will be a distinct loss if the great agricultural and 
industrial interests of the West must wait on the discoveries of 
the florist and horticulturist. 

The so-called "Illinois system of permanent agriculture" of 
lime, raw phosphate and legumes, which these officials are ad- 
vocating in place of commercial fertilizers may be good for certain 
limited sections, but in general practice it will be found too slow 
for present needs and conditions. Let me say, however, that 
the fertilizer industry favors any system, the Illinois or any other, 
which will benefit agriculture; but it stands to reason that, as 

11 



Nature has deposited all over the world an abundance of plant 
food, man should utilize it whenever and wherever he can to 
advantage. 

A Scare-Head Propaganda 

It is pure quackery to call these things which Nature has 
created for man's use "soil stimulants" or "patent soil medicines" 
after they have been rendered available by the touch of chemistry. 
The scientific world knows that, by mining and rendering raw 
phosphate soluble, we are not converting it into a soil stimulant ; 
we are converting it into a form which in some way encourages 
early root development and promotes bacterial activity in the 
soil. By mining and refining potash we are not converting it 
into a stimulant, but into a soluble, active salt — an essential 
plant food. By conserving the nitrogen in all the by-products of 
industry, such as tankages, seed meals, industrial and muni- 
cipal wastes, we are not converting it into a plant stimulant, 
but into assimilable food for soil upbuilding and crop production. 
Further, when we conserve the nitrogen of coal or abstract it 
from the air for agricultural use, we are doing just what Sir 
William Crookes said must be done if the world is to be fed. 

It is an economic blunder, if not a more serious thing, to at- 
tempt to frighten farmers into not using fertilizers by likening 
them to alcohol. It is a matter calling for criticism, if not for 
condemnation, for men in Government employ, using Federal 
and State funds and the prestige of a great university, to carry on 
this sort of scare-head propaganda — a propaganda which in its 
larger aspects is unscientific and directly opposed to the agricul- 
tural and industrial development of the country. 

I have discussed at some length the opposition of a few agri- 
cultural officials to the use of commercial fertilizers, because I 
feel that in their official capacity they are standing in the way 
of agricultural progress in the Middle West. 



Will It Pay to Use Fertilizers 

Whether or not artificial fertilizers are plant food is no longer 
a debatable question. That was settled years ago by Liebig, 
Lawes and other great experimenters. Whether or not it is 
profitable to use them in all places and on all crops will always be 
a debatable question; but it is not one which the chemist or 
agronomist can settle for each farmer, for it is an individual and 
local problem. The Government might as well attempt to de- 
termine what the farmer shall eat or wear, or whom he shall 
marry, as to say whether or not it is profitable for him to use 
fertilizers. The Government can help him in many ways; but 
when it comes to the matter of what will pay, only the farmer can 

12 



determine that for himself, by experiment on his own soils and 
crops. B may be a better crop grower than A, but A may be a 
better business man and thus realize a greater profit. We 
cannot eliminate the personal equation in farm operations. 

As to the matter of profit, with their present limited experi- 
ence in the use of fertilizers it may not now pay Middle West 
farmers to use them in sufiicient quantity to meet all crop needs. 
Assuming that such use will not be profitable, it does not follow 
that it will not pay individual farmers to use fertilizers to supple- 
ment any system of agriculture which they may adopt in order to 
improve quality, hasten maturity and insure results. That alone is 
enough to justify their use in the Middle West today. 



The Loss from Soft Grains 

Take, for example, the soft and immature grains which are 
produced in the Middle West. If these could be lessened by half 
and the quality improved, what avast saving would be effected! 

The cause of these soft grains is no doubt inadequate or im- 
proper feeding at the crucial time. The judicious use of com- 
mercial plant foods will help correct this condition. I am happy 
to state that the Middle West is already using a considerable 
quantity for this purpose — probably more than half a million 
tons annually. It should, for various reasons, use a great deal 
more. For example, Iowa should use on corn and grass as much 
as Georgia uses on corn and cotton, which is a million and a 
quarter tons annually. 

Commercial fertilizers have come to stay, as much so as farm 
machinery or automobiles. Therefore would it not be wiser for 
agricultural teachers to seek to direct their use rather than to 
dogmatically oppose their use? I am told that a number of 
prominent teachers of agriculture in the Middle West are suc- 
cessfully using fertilizers on their own farms to quickly bring 
them to a high state of productiveness, but who in public dis- 
courage their use; one reason given is that they fear it will lead 
farmers to abandon the keeping of live stock. Is this quite fair 
to the farmers? What is good for the teachers to use should 
also be good for the farmers to use. In the East we can point 
to scores of cases where farmers have used fertilizers to bring up 
their farms quickly and who are now keeping so much stock 
that they do not need to use them, except to start crops or to 
hasten maturity or to improve quality. Why not encourage 
farmers to experiment for themselves with fertilizers on their 
own crops and soils to see what they can do to reduce the amount 
of soft grains, or to bring up their farms quickly to a higher state 
of productiveness? 

13 



The Billion Bushel Wheat Crop — What It Takes 
From the Soil 

We are proud of the fact that we shall have approximately a 
billion-bushel wheat crop in 1915. We are glad that we are able 
to help feed nations across the sea, now at war, to a greater 
extent than ever before. A bushel of wheat of 60 pounds con- 
tains two pounds of plant food; that is, nitrogen, potash and 
phosphoric acid (in money value about twenty cents a bushel), 
thus do we realize that a billion bushels of wheat contain approxi- 
mately 1,000,000 tons of plant food, of which 575,000 tons are 
nitrogen? Do we realize that we exported in the last twelve 
months, ending June 30th, in the shape of cereals over eighty 
million dollars' worth of plant food? We received back an equi- 
valent, but how much of it shall we put back into the soil in the 
shape of plant food? As a matter of fact, but an infinitesimal 
amount in the cereal belt. 

How long can we continue this soil mining (Henry Wallace 
calls it soil robbery) and remain the granary of the world? How 
long can we continue to upset the balance in this way and remain 
a prosperous nation? 

In a recent interview M. Hugues Le Roux, editor of a leading 
journal in France, on a diplomatic mission to this country, said: 

"Farms in America are laid out on a grand scale, 
for men seek to draw from Nature the most she pos- 
sesses, giving the least possible nourishment in return. 
What a pity! Some day the soil will grow tired. 
. . . In France, where cultivation has been going 
on for centuries, la terre (the soil) is well taken care of. 
We do not always ask of her. She is fed like a cow. 
She has a place within the farmhouse. She is a some- 
body. Her well-being is of concern to the whole 
family — to the nation as a family or government." 



Restoring the Balance — Other Important Factors 

Important as our industry is and will be in helping to restore 
the balance, we must remember that we are only one factor. 
Other important factors will be at work, such as better cultiva- 
tion with better implements, better seed, better drainage, rota- 
tion of crops and the growing of leguminous crops. All will co- 
operate to help restore the balance. 

Many think that irrigation will be the most important factor 
in restoring the balance. It is true that water is the largest factor 
in crop production, but virgin irrigated lands, after a time, will 
need fertilizers as much, if not more than the unirrigated, for 

14 



big crops, as the result of irrigation, will make correspondingly 
big drafts on the available fertility of the soil, 

I am an optimist. Italy, like France, has been farmed for 
centuries and is still a productive country. Germany has been 
farmed intensively a hundred years and is now producing 88 per 
cent, of the foodstuffs required by her sixty-five million popula- 
tion. Secretary Houston states that only 40 per cent, of the 
tillable land in the United States is under cultivation. When 
the remaining 60 per cent, is brought under the plow, or, better 
still, when the whole is made to produce by intensive methods 
twice as much as it produces now (and Western Europe is an 
example of what can be done) we shall have food enough and to 
spare. 

Not Production But Distribution 

It seems to me the pressing problem is not of production, but 
of distribution. The excess of farm products in certain sections, 
and the scarcity in others, as, for example, twenty-five million 
bushels of potatoes in Aroostook County and an apparent scarcity 
in New York City, resulting in potatoes being thrown away at 
times in Maine and still selling at a dollar a bushel in New York, 
is a striking illustration. When the facilities of distribution 
and exchange are improved this condition should be remedied, 
and when remedied everyone should be able to afford three 
square meals in our great cities, and the farmer should get his 
fair share of the dollar. If he does get his fair share there will be 
little question of food supply. 

Sir William Crookes, in his President's Address to the British 
Association for the Advancement of Science (1898), said: 

"It is the chemist who must come to the rescue. It 
is through the laboratory that starvation may ulti- 
mately be turned into plenty. . . . The future 
can take care of itself. ... In days to come 
when the demand may overtake supply we may safely 
leave our successors to grapple with the stupendous 
food problem." 

With untold millions of acres of the earth's surface still un- 
known to the plow, and with scientific research in its infancy, 
world starvation is only a remote possibility even if there were 
no voluntary and positive checks to the increase of population, 
as there have been and always will be. 

Therefore, are you surprised that I am an optimist and do you 
wonder that I am proud of our industry and the place it holds 
as a co-worker with the farmer in the agricultural and industrial 
development of our country? 

15 



Improvements in the Industry 

I am asked by President Jarecki to add a word about improve- 
ments in the industry. The constitution of the National Fer- 
tilizer Association sets forth this object: "To procure and dis- 
seminate useful knowledge pertaining to the scientific develop- 
ment of agriculture . . . the aim being to improve and 
facilitate the increase of soil production." Let us carry out this 
object to the letter. It is perfectly legitimate for the industry 
to organize a propaganda to further the use of its wares, as 
legitimate as for farmers to organize to promote the sale of their 
products, but in its literature it should treat the subject of fertility 
and its use on broad and economic grounds. It should also re- 
member that the chemistry of fertilizers to the layman is ex- 
tremely technical and therefore needs simplification. We must 
reiterate in the simplest language that fertilizers are food. Many 
farmers, encouraged by demagogues, still think that they are 
stimulants and not foods. We must at all times and in every 
place combat that idea. We must impress upon them that well- 
made fertilizers are prepared food for plants as milk is food for 
animals. 



Uniform Directions — Uniform Laws 

As an industry we should have fairly uniform directions, for I 
am satisfied that many failures are due to misapplication. To 
that end, if permissible under State laws, I would wire to each 
sack a tag giving explicit directions. We must not be selfish 
in this matter, for we must remember, that if a farmer fails in 
the use of a competitor's brand, it indirectly hurts the sale of 
our own brand. Common directions will help individual manu- 
facturers as well as the industry as a whole. This is a kind 
of co-operation in which the industry should engage. 

I believe we should urge uniform State laws to govern the sale 
of fertilizers, or, if not uniform laws, then a uniform and also a 
simplified statement of analysis. I would only give the minimum 
guaranty and reduce the statement to four items: nitrogen, 
available phosphoric acid, total phosphoric acid and potash. 
This would greatly simplify business. I believe also that we 
should urge uniform and up-to-date methods of testing fertilizers, 
and should heartily co-operate with State officials in all reason- 
able efforts in this direction. 



Co-operation with All Agencies 

We must also co-operate with and encourage scientific investiga- 
tion in our particular field relating to the composition, manu- 
facture and use of plant foods. Such experiments as those 
which have been conducted for years in Massachusetts, Rhode 

16 



Island, Ohio, Pennsylvania and a score of other States, are of 
enormous value to us. Never mind if some of them seem to be 
against us, or are construed against us by pseudo scientists. 
Don't let that worry us. I have read diatribes by learned doctors 
against the use of milk, potatoes and white bread as food; but 
milk, potatoes and white bread will be used as human food just 
as prepared chemicals will be used for plant food. 

Within a short time there will be at least three thousand 
county agents in the employ of the Federal and State govern- 
ments — men whose business it will be to make a house-to-house 
canvass among farmers, seeking to assist them in their work. 
As far as possible we should co-operate with these county agents 
and with all the agencies which are to be employed for the up- 
building of agriculture and the uplift of the farmer, for remember, 
as he thrives, we thrive. He is our only customer. It has been 
stated that there will be no less than fifty million dollars 
expended annually in this country in this sort of work. We pay 
our share of it. We should share in the benefits. 

Advertising the Industry 

I have also been asked by President Jarecki to say a word 
about advertising. Now that is a large order. I have been 
advertising my particular wares for many years. For the first 
four years I was foolhardy enough to spend all I made in ad- 
vertising, but it paid. I would advertise extensively, especially 
in all new sections. There is no industry which offers a wider 
scope. Aside from the sciences involved each crop affords a 
theme. Corn, tobacco and roses require different treatment, 
but all require plant food. 

We are obliged by law "to state what we sell and to sell what 
we state." No other products are so thoroughly and conscien- 
tiously inspected in every State as are fertilizers. If up-to-date 
methods of analysis are employed, as is the case in most States, 
the farmer can know just what he is getting in availability as 
well as in strength. The official inspectors are conscientious 
and trustworthy. Good inspection insures confidence, there- 
fore we should encourage it and make the most of it in our adver- 
tisements. We should also see to it that our goods are well made 
chemically and physically, for it is needless to say that such' 
goods advertise themselves. 

Fertilizers intended to be used for starting crops and improving 
quality should have a part of their nitrogen in chemical form and 
a part in organic form, one to start and one to help later ma- 
turity — and the phosphoric acid should be available — as much 
of it water soluble as possible and preserve good physical con- 
dition, for reinember, fertilizers are to be applied more and 
more by machine, therefore they must be "dry and drillable." 

17 



A good start at the drill is the best kind of an advertisement. 
The drill is our best friend. 

Our advertisements, either in our literature or in the press, 
should contain nothing of an exaggerated or mystic nature. 
There is no secret or mystic property in fertilizers. We should 
not appeal to the credulity of the consumer. Leave that to the 
demagogue. Our statements should be based on the best 
practice and should be clean-cut and absolutely truthful. 

The Future of the Industry 

Finally, if we are progressive and outspoken we have little to 
fear. Many industries have been subject to special and oppres- 
sive legislation; so far ours has escaped. I have seen our in- 
dustry unfairly criticized in many quarters, but I have also seen 
it grow to enormous proportions. Honest criticism never hurt 
anyone, and abuse from some quarters is helpful. The true 
scientist, the broad economist and the wise statesman are with 
us and for us. What is more important, the practical, hard- 
headed commercial farmers are with us and will stay with us if 
we strive intelligently and faithfully to serve them. 

Sir John Lawes was the father of the modern fertilizer industry. 
He took out his patent for "superphosphate" in 1842, and later 
founded the Lawes Manure Company of London, always, and 
still, a large, successful company. He founded and supported at 
Rothamsted an experiment station to experiment with fertilizers 
in order to know what to make and sell. The industry has fol- 
lowed his teachings. He associated with him an able chemist, 
Dr. J. H. Gilbert. They conducted and reported their experi- 
ments so fairly that the world accepts them as authoritative. 
They were both knighted for their distinguished and faithful 
service. They put the industry on a high business and scientific 
plane. Let us keep it there. 

So, as one of the oldest men engaged in the industry, let me 
say to you younger men: Dignify and honor the industry by 
carrying it on in a dignified, upright, progressive way, and you 
will see it one of the largest and most respected industries in the 
country. 



18 







jm^sm. 



ADDRESSED TO THE FARMERS OF THE EAST AND SOUTH, 
AND, IN THE NEAR FUTURE, TO THOSE OF THE WEST. 

The Spirit of the Land: "/ have fed you all these ages. You must feed me now!' 

Pablisbed in "Raral New-Yorker" 26 years ago. Reproduced by PermissioD. 



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